Today in the Past
Events
866 - Pope Nicholas I answers the envoys of Boris (Ad consulta vestra)
1002 - English king Ethelred II launches massacre of Danish settlers
1160 - Marriage of Louis VII of France with Adele of Champagne.
1553 - English Lady Jane Grey/Bishop Cranmer accused of high treason
1565 - Pope Pius IV publishes degree Professi fidei
1642 - Battle at Turnham Green, London: King Charles I vs English parliament
1715 - Significant battle at Sheriffmuir during Jacobite rebellion. Battle inconclusive but Government forces able halt advance of Jacobite army lead by Scottish Earl of Mar
1775 - American Revolutionary forces capture Montreal
1789 - Ben Franklin writes “Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes”
1841 - James Braid first sees a demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnosis.
1843 - Mt Rainier in Washington State erupts
1854 - ”New Era” sinks off NJ coast with loss of 300
1862 - Battle of Holly Spring, MS
1865 - PT Barnum’s New American museum opens in Bridgeport
1865 - US issues 1st gold certificates
1875 - Harvard-Yale game is 1st college football contest with uniforms
1887 - Bloody Sunday clashes in central London.
1895 - 1st shipment of canned pineapple from Hawaii
1901 - The 1901 Caister Lifeboat Disaster.
1907 - French cyclist Paul Cornu flies 1st helicopter (twin rotor)
1909 - 259 miners die in a fire at St Paul Mine at Cherry Ill
1913 - 1st modern elastic brassiere patented by Mary Phelps Jacob
1916 - British offensive at Ancre Belgium
1920 - Hudson River frozen at Albany
1921 - ”Sheik,” starring Rudolph Valentino, is released
1922 - Black Renaissance begins Harlem NY
1927 - NY-NJ Holland Tunnel, 1st twin-tube underwater auto tunnel, opens
1933 - 1st modern sit-down strike, Hormel meat packers, Austin, Minn
1940 - Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” released
1941 - British aircraft carrier “Ark Royal” sank in Mediterranean
1942 - Chaotic “sea battle of Friday the 13th” at Guadalcanal
1942 - Minimum draft age lowered from 21 to 18
1946 - 1st artificial snow produced from a natural cloud, Mt Greylock, MA
1950 - US win 1st world championship bridge contest
1952 - False fingernails 1st sold
1956 - Supreme Court strikes down segregation of races on public buses
1960 - Fire in movie theater kills 152 children (Amude Spain)
1960 - Sammy Davis Jr marries Swedish actress May Britt
1961 - Vladimir Yefimovich Semichastny succeeds Aleksandr Nikolayevich Shelepin as head of the KGB.
1964 - Bob Petit (St Louis Hawks) becomes 1st NBAer to score 20,000 points
1965 - ”Yarmouth Castle” burns & sinks off Bahamas, killing 89
1967 - Carl B Stokes sworn-in as 1st major city black mayor (Cleveland Oh)
1969 - VP Spiro T Agnew accused network TV news depts of bias & distortion
1970 - Cyclone kills estimated 300,000 in Chittagong Bangladesh
1970 - Flooding ravages Ganges delta, 200,000-1 million killed
1970 - Lt Gen Hafez al-Assad becomes PM of Syria following military coup
1971 - Mariner 9, 1st to orbit another planet (Mars)
1974 - Dodgers Steve Garvey wins NL MVP
1977 - Final Al Capp comic strip of “Li’l Abner” (1934-77)
1978 - NASA launches HEAO
1979 - Ronald Reagan in NY announces his candidacy for president
1979 - Willie Stargell & Keith Hernandez share NL MVP Award NL
1980 - US spacecraft Voyager I sent back 1st close-up pictures of Saturn
1982 - Vietnam War Memorial dedicated in Washington DC(see UC 11/09)
1982 - A boxing match held in Las Vegas, Nevada ends when Ray Mancini defeats Duk Koo Kim. Kim’s death on November 17 led to significant changes in the sport.
1984 - David Levy finds his 1st comet
1984 - Ryne Sandberg wins the NL MVP Award
1985 - Dwight Gooden, youngest 20 game winner, wins Cy Young award
1985 - Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia, kills 25,000
1986 - US president Reagan confesses weapon sales to Iran
1987 - 1st condom commercial on BBC TV
1990 - The World Wide Web first began.
1991 - Boston Red Sox Roger Clemens wins AL Cy Young Award
1992 - Riddick Bowe beats Evander Holyfield in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
1993 - 7.1 seaquake east of Kamchatka
1994 - Sweden agrees to join European Union
1997 - ”Lion King,” opens at New Amersterdam Theater NYC
1997 - UN pulls out arms inspection teams from Iraq
2001 - Doha Round: The World Trade Organization ends a four-day ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar.
2001 - War on Terrorism: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States.
2002 - The oil tanker Prestige sinks off the Galician coast and causes a huge oil spill.
2007 - An explosion hits the south wing of the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Quezon City, killing four people, including Congressman Wahab Akbar, and wounding six.
Births
354 - [Christian] Aurelius Augustine, bp of Hippo in Roman Africa
1312 - Edward III, Windsor Castle, England, king of England (1327-77, raped countess of Salisbury), (d. 1377)
1486 - Johann Eck, German theologian (d. 1543)
1504 - Philip I (the Generous), Landgrave of Hesse and important early protestant ruler. (d. 1567)
1572 - Cyril Lucaris, Greek theologian (d. 1638)
1715 - Dorothea Erxleben, German, first female medical doctor (d.1762)
1732 - John Dickinson, American lawyer and Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania (d. 1808)
1760 - Jiaqing, Emperor of China (d. 1820)
1792 - Edward John Trelawney, England, traveler/author (Adv of Younger Son)
1804 - Theophilus Hunter Holmes, Lt Gen (Confederate Army), died in 1880
1809 - John AB Dahlgren, US Union rear adm/inventor (Civil War Dahlgren-cannon)
1813 - John Wolcott Phelps, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1885
1814 - Joseph Hooker, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1879
1833 - Edwin Thomas Booth, US, US Hall of Fame/actor (Hamlet)
1834 - Ignacio M Altamirano, Mexican author (El Zarco)
1838 - Joseph F Smith, 6th pres of Mormon church
1841 - Edward Burd Grubb, American Civil War Brevet Brigadier General (d. 1913)
1850 - Robert Louis Stevenson, Edinburgh, Scotland, author (Treasure Island), (d. 1894)
1853 - John Drew Jr., American actor (d. 1927)
1856 - Louis D Brandeis, Mass, 68th Supreme Court Justice (1916-39)
1858 - Percy McDonnell, cricketer (Australian batsman of the 1880′s)
1859 - Georg Knorr, German engineer (brake system trains)
1869 - Helene Stöcker, German feminist, pacifist and publicist (d. 1943)
1869 - Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Russian feminist (d. 1962)
1878 - Max Dehn, German mathematician (d. 1952)
1882 - John Lowry, Mount Vernon NY, NYC builder (Radio City Music Hall)
1893 - Edward A Doisy Sr, US bio-chemist (Vitamin K1, Nobel 1943)
1897 - Gertrude Olmstead, American actress (d. 1975)
1898 - Earl Sande, jockey (Hall of Famer)
1900 - Edward Buzzell, American film director (d. 1985)
1902 - Gustav von Koenigswald, paleontologist (found Pithecanthropus erectus)
1906 - Hermione Baddeley, England, actress (Camp Runamuck, Maude, Good Life)
1906 - Eva Zeisel, Budapest, Hungary, American industrial designer
1907 - Lewis Boddington, aerospace engineer
1908 - C. Vann Woodward, American historian (d. 1999)
1910 - William Bradford Huie, American writer and publisher (d. 1986)
1915 - Robert Sutton, electronics engineer
1916 - Jack Elam, Miami AZ, actor (The Dakotas, East Street, Rio Lobo)
1918 - Janine Andrade, French violinist
1921 - Eddie Calhoun, jazz bassist
1922 - Oskar Werner, film actor/director (Shoes of the Fisherman, Das Ekel)
1924 - Motoo Kimura, Japanese geneticist (d. 1994)
1927 - Billy Klüver, American scientist (d. 2004)
1931 - Anthony Jacobs, English industrialist (BSM)
1931 - Joan Lestor, British MP
1931 - John A Manke, US test pilot (HL-10)
1932 - Olga Connolly-Fikotova, Czech, US discus thrower (Olympic-gold-1956)
1932 - Richard Mulligan, Bronx NY, actor (Soap, Empty’s Nest, Big Bus)
1933 - Clyde McPhatter, rocker
1937 - Kamahl, [Kamalesvaran], Australian singer (Elephant Song)
1938 - Jean Seberg, Marshaltown Iowa, actress (Breathless, Paint Your Wagon)
1939 - Idris Muhammad, American jazz drummer
1940 - Justine “Baby” Washington, US singer (Only Those in Love)
1943 - John Hammond Jr, NYC, blues singer (So Many Roads)
Walking Blues Can’t Find My Way Home with Bonnie Raitt & Lowell George
Too Tired with Duke Robillard IT HURTS ME TOO with Dr John & Mike Bloomfield
Come On In My Kitchen Mr Highwayman with Robert jr Lockwood
Rambling On My Mind Slick Crown Vic
1945 - Masahiro Hasemi, Japanese racing driver
1947 - Joe Mantegna, Chicago Ill, actor (House of Games, Weeds)
1949 - Roger Steen, rock guitarist/vocalist (Tubes)
1949 - Yoshimi Ishibashi, Japanese racing driver
1950 - Gilbert Perreault, NHL center (over 500 goals)
1951 - Beth Anders, Norristown Penn, field hockey sweeper (Oly-bronze-1984)
1951 - Bill Gibson, California, rock drummer (Huey Lewis & The News)
1952 - Art Malik, Pakistani-born English actor
1953 - Andy “the Clobberer” Ranken, English pop drummer (The Pogues)
1953 - Larry Miller, comedian (Dream On, Favor, Dream Lover)
1953 - Tracy Scoggins, Galveston Tx, actress (Colbys, Gumshoe Kid)
1953 - Waswo_X._Waswo, American Photographer
1954 - Scott McNealy, American CEO of Sun Microsystems
1958 - Linda Jackson, Montreal Quebec, cyclist (Olympics-96)
1963 - Vinny Testaverde, NFL quarterback (Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens)
1969 - Lori Berenson, American criminal
1969 - Gerard Butler, Scottish actor
1969 - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dutch author
1973 - Samantha Riley, Brisbane Australia, breastroker (Oly-2 bronze-92, 96)
1973 - Ari Hoenig, American jazz drummer
1975 - Sarah Pitkowski, Seclin France, tennis star (1995 Futures-Koksijde)
1976 - Hiroshi Tanahashi, Japanese professional wrestler
1976 - Kelly Sotherton, English heptathlete
1977 - Huang Xiaoming, Chinese actor and singer
1978 - Nikolai Fraiture, American bassist (The Strokes)
1979 - Ron Artest, American basketball player
1979 - Subliminal, Israeli rapper and producer
1980 - François-Louis Tremblay, Canadian short track speed skater
1981 - Kirsty-Leigh Brown, Australia, gymnast (Olympics-96)
1981 - Rivkah, American comic book writer and artist
Deaths
867 - Nicholas I, (the Great), pope (858-67), dies at 67
1004 - Abbo van Fleury, [Floriacensis], French abbott/saint, dies
1093 - Malcolm III (Canmore, “Big Head”) King of Scotland , dies in battle at Alnwick, Northumberland. Historical figure Shakespeare’s character based on.
1143 - King Fulk of Jerusalem
1359 - Ivan II, great ruler of Moscow & Vladimir, dies
1606 - Geronimo Mercuriali, Italian philologist and physician (b. 1530)
1619 - Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter (b. 1555)
1706 - Godfried Schalcken, painter/etcher/engraver, dies
1779 - Thomas Chippendale, English furniture maker, dies at 61
1849 - William Etty, English painter best known for paintings of nudes, dies at 62
1863 - Carnot Posey, Confederate brig-generaal, dies at 50
1867 - Adolphe Napoleon Didron, French archaeologist (b. 1806)
1868 - Gioachino (Antonio) Rossini, composer (Barber of Seville), dies at 76
1893 - Antoine T d’abbadie, French explorer: Ethiopia, dies at 78
1903 - Wilhelm von Polenz, German author (Country of Zukunft), dies
1903 - Camille Pissarro, French painter (b. 1830)
1942 - Daniel J Callaghan, US admiral (at Guadalcanal), Medal Of Honor Recipient , dies
1942 - Douglas H Fox, US captain of destroyer Barton, dies in battle
1942 - Norman Scott, US admiral (at Guadalcanal), Medal of Honor Recipient , dies
1961 - Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr., American diplomat (b. 1897)
1963 - Margaret Murray, English anthropologist and Egyptologist (b. 1863)
1967 - Harriet Cohen, English pianist (b. 1895)
1973 - Bruno Maderna, Italian composer/conductor (Satyricon), dies at 53
1973 - Elsa Schiaparelli, French fashion designer, dies at 77
1974 - Vittorio de Sica, Italian actor/director (Boccacio 70), dies
1977 - Ingrid Schubert, German terrorist (b. 1944)
1983 - ”Alvin” Junior Samples, country singer (Hee Haw), dies at 56
1985 - George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (b. 1898)
1986 - Rolando Olalia, Philippines worker’s union leader, murdered
1986 - Rudolf Schock, German opera/operetta singer, dies at 71
1986 - Thierry Le Luron, French humourist (b. 1952)
1989 - Victor Davis, Canadian swimmer (b. 1964)
1991 - Cyril Poitier, actor (Uptown Saturday Night), dies of cancer at 80
1991 - Hanson Baldwin, US military historian, dies at 88
1994 - Joseph H Hazen, US producer/VP (Warner Bros), dies at 96
1994 - Motoo Kimura, Japanese geneticist (b. 1924)
1996 - Kenneth Watkins, woodland conservationist, dies at 86
1996 - William Ballard Doggett, jazz musician, dies at 80
1996 - Swami Rama, Himalayan yoga master (b. 1925)
1997 - William John Elwyn Davies, painter, dies at 80
1998 - Red Holzman, American basketball coach (b. 1920)
1998 - Michel Trudeau, Canadian outdoorsman, son of Pierre Trudeau (b. 1975)
1999 - Donald Mills, American singer (Mills Brothers) (b. 1915)
2002 - Rishikesh Shaha, Nepalese politician and writer (b. 1925)
2004 - Ol’ Dirty Bastard, American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan) (b. 1968)
2005 - Eddie Guerrero, American/Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1967)
2005 - Vine Deloria, Jr., Native American author, theologian, historian, and activist (b. 1933)
2010 - Allan Sandage, American astronomer (b. 1926)
